Birthday celebration satisfies

Monday

Mar 11, 2013 at 10:43 PM

On Saturday before last, our son Terrence had just observed his 43rd birthday several days earlier. To help celebrate, Dearly Beloved and I picked him and his sister, Penny, up and told him he could choose wherever he wanted to go for supper. He chose Pasta Faire on U.S. 441.

By Emory SchleyColumnists

On Saturday before last, our son Terrence had just observed his 43rd birthday several days earlier. To help celebrate, Dearly Beloved and I picked him and his sister, Penny, up and told him he could choose wherever he wanted to go for supper. He chose Pasta Faire on U.S. 441 in Belleview, a place where all of us have eaten a number of times.

After considering the wide array of choices on the menu, he chose the Italian Ride for Life, a selection of lasagna, ravioli, chicken parmigiana and Italian sausage topped with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese. Penny chose the Chicken Cassandra and DB chose Grouper Piccata with angel hair pasta, marinara and capers, while I went with the Spaghetti Formaggio.

We rarely order dessert, but due to the special nature of the occasion we made an exception, with everyone choosing a dessert except for Penny, who, apparently, is the strongest-willed among us.

Italian wedding cake, a chocolate tower and cheese cake with strawberry topping complemented an already outstanding meal. And our waitress, Leah, made sure we were well taken care of. All in all, a very satisfying evening with a super meal.

Pasta Faire strikes a just-right balance between not-too-fancy and not-too-plain; a great place to eat for a special occasion or just when you feel like eating out. If you go, be sure to tell ’em Emory sent you!

READER’S QUESTION: On Top of the World’s Ed Morgan wants to know, “Why is it when the warning light appears, the car is taken at once to a mechanic by the owner, but when needing medical help, that same owner refuses to see a doctor?”

Gee, Ed, I have no idea. I, myself, see so many doctors it sometimes seems like I’m single-handedly trying to support the entire medical industry in Beautiful Marion County! My checkbook feels the same way, but, way down deep, if I could avoid all those doctors’ visits, I would gladly give them up.

NUMBER 47: I mentioned in a previous column that DB and I had our 47th anniversary coming up the following day, a day which, incidentally, we were both sick and homebound, so we had to put off any thoughts of celebrating until we both felt better.

Louise Sager, Belleview, wrote: “Happy anniversary, and many more. My husband and I are celebrating our 55th on the 8th. We have the same feelings you do. My best wishes to you both.”

Thank you, Louise, hope y’all felt better on your anniversary than we did on ours!

ONGOING TALE: When last we left Mollie and Jack, the policeman was administering CPR to the baby in the back seat of Mollie’s car when Jack noticed his missing canvas bag sitting on the seat of the police car.

EMMETT SOLOMON’S INSTALLMENT: Since the policeman was occupied by the baby, Molly strolled over to Jack.

“Get in the car,” he whispered.

The cop had left his cruiser running.

The mystery woman had already eased into the backseat. Molly got in the passenger side. Quickly, Jack jumped in behind the wheel.

The cop looked up and shouted, “Stop!”

But, with gravel flying and then rubber squealing, they accelerated into the night.

“Now what?” Molly demanded. “This car is pretty conspicuous. Plus, before we go to jail, I’d like to know what is going on.”

AND NOW, YOUR TURN: What can you add to our little story? I think it’s about time to start clearing up the questions and bring our little tale to a satisfying end, although that may take a few more installments to accomplish. You can see the complete story, as revealed so far, by going to ocala.com and clicking on “NEWS,” then “LOCAL.” Previous winners can enter again, just remember the 100-word limit, although fewer words are OK, too. Send your submission to slyguy73@gmail.com by 6 p.m. Thursday and put “STORY” in the subject line so I can sort the story entries from all the other stuff that arrives in that mailbox.

WHAT A THRILL: Ongoing tale contributor Sandra Sanders wrote: “It was a thrill to see my segment of the Molly and Jack saga in your column. I, and I’m sure the other writers, appreciate the challenge to create a story using 100 words or fewer. It’s a great exercise and worth the effort. I think of myself more as an illustrator than writer, so if you decide to make a novel out of this please consider me for the cover design.”

Sandra, I seriously doubt it’ll ever see print beyond my column and online. It probably won’t be nearly long enough for a book.

Send comments to slyguy73@gmail.com and include your FULL name and town. This column appears each Tuesday, Thursday and